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“JEALOUSY MAKES FOR A LOUSY LIFE”
JOHN 12:12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had
come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took branches of palm trees
and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-- the King of Israel!"
14 Jesus found a young donkey and
sat on it; as it is written:
15 "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"
16 His disciples did not understand
these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had
been done to him.
17 So the crowd that had been with
him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.
18 It was also because they heard
that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him.
19 The Pharisees then said to one
another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!"
Every
once and awhile it rears its ugly head and when it does trouble usually isn’t very far behind. That was certainly true when Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem.
What was it that got Jesus into so much hot water that day and in the days that followed?
The answer is simple. It was jealousy.
Did you notice what the Pharisees said when they saw the people shouting hosanna and throwing their cloaks on the ground
in front of him? They said, “Look, the whole world has gone after him.” The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus. They
were jealous of his popularity, his power and his charismatic presence.
Jealousy
is always a dangerous thing. Lee Iacocca, the former Chrysler Motors CEO, used
to illustrate the danger by telling a story. One version of the story was about
a very wealthy man who had two sons. Unfortunately, the younger son was very
jealous of the older son. The younger son always felt that the father favored
his older brother. One day though the father went to the younger son and said,
“I want to do something wonderful for you. So, I’m going to grant
you one wish. You can have anything you want.
So what would you like? A new sports car?
A house on the ocean? Maybe a trip around the world?” The younger son was thrilled. “That’s great,”
he said. “Give me a day to think it over.” “Very well,”
the father said. “Of course, you do realize,” he added, “that
since your brother is older whatever I give you, I’ll have to give him twice as much.” The father didn’t have any idea how much that infuriated the younger son until the next day. “Okay,” the younger son said. “I
thought it over and if you’re going to give him double what you give me, then I want you to scare me half to death.”
You
ever feel that way yourself? Does jealous ever get the best of you? It certainly got the best of the Pharisees when Jesus rode into the Holy
City. In fact, jealousy was one of
the things that sent Jesus to the Cross. It wasn’t the only thing of course. There was also a lot of fear in the air that day because the Pharisees felt threatened
by Jesus. Greed was also at work. You
see that when Jesus threw the moneychangers out of the Temple. He did that because they were operating a scam that was making many of the Pharisees very wealthy men. The Pharisees also hated Jesus with a passion because so much of what he said and
did made them look bad.
So, all of that sent Jesus to the Cross, but you could
say that jealousy was the emotion that stirred the pot. “Look,” the
Pharisees said. “The whole world has gone after him.”
Jealousy is a very dangerous thing. It’s an emotion that has no redeeming value to it whatsoever.
For one thing when you’re heart is full of jealousy you tend to belittle and berate and besmirch the people around
you. You start to look for the bad in people instead of looking for the good
in them. That’s what the Pharisees did to Jesus. They didn’t see any good in him at all.
Some of you have heard this story before. It’s a story though that shows you how jealousy can destroy your ability to be kind and considerate
and compassionate toward others. It seems a man was walking his dog on a beach
one day when he met another man who was also walking his dog. The two of them
got to bragging about their dogs. Finally, the first man picked up a stick and
threw it way out into the crashing waves. Immediately, his dog went splashing into the water and brought the stick back in
no time at all. “That’s pretty good,” the other man said, “but
watch this.” At that point he threw an even bigger stick even further out
into the crashing waves. Immediately, his dog went out to get the stick. Instead of splashing through the waves though the dog actually ran across the top
of the water. “Well,” the other man said when the dog got back. “Did you notice anything unusual?” “Yeah,” the first man sighed. “You
know, it must be really embarrassing to have a dog that can’t swim.”
When your heart is full of jealousy you tend to put others
down a lot. You also tend to put yourself down a lot. You torture yourself with comments like, “Oh I wish I was more like so and so. I wish I was pretty or rich or popular or smart like my sister or my best friend or my neighbor.”
You end up living your life the way a family did when the time came for the oldest daughter to get married. The wedding was a lavish affair and featured the best of everything.
The flowers and the reception and the wedding gown, everything had to be perfect.
That attitude actually led to a very funny moment though when the father walked the bride down the aisle. When they got to the front of the lavishly decorated church the father kissed the bride and she in turn
put something into his hand. When the guests in the front pews saw it they giggled
a little. Even the priest smiled. So,
what was it that the bride put in her father’s hand that everyone found so amusing?
Why his credit card of course.
When your heart is full of jealousy it often pushes you
to pretend to be something you’re not because who you are right now isn’t good enough. Jesus didn’t do that though because he was at peace with himself and who he was. He didn’t care if he was rich and famous. It didn’t
bother him that his father was a lowly carpenter. It didn’t bother him
that people probably snickered and said he was illegitimate because his mother wasn’t married when he was born. Because Jesus was at peace with himself and who he was he also didn’t let all
the adoration and the adulation on Palm Sunday go to his head. He didn’t
let it tempt him into becoming the conquering hero that the people wanted him to be.
Instead he was content to ride into Jerusalem on the back of a lowly beast
of burden and humbly walk the path of scorn and shame to the Cross.
Because Jesus was at peace with himself and who he was
he didn’t have a jealous bone in his body. It’s why he was able to
love others as freely and as fully as he did.
That’s what made a boy by the name of Jeremy so
special. He was special even though he was born with a twisted body and a mind
that made it impossible for him to keep up with other children his age. When
he was 12 years old Jeremy was still in the second grade. His teacher often found
him exasperating because he was constantly squirming and drooling and made grunting noises that disrupted the class. At one point the teacher suggested to his parents that he really needed to be sent
to a special school. That school was many miles away though and when the mother started to cry the teacher felt guilty. So, she changed her mind and later asked God to help her be patient with Jeremy. One day shortly after that Jeremy limped over to her desk and said, “I love
you, Miss Miller.” The other children giggled and the teacher turned bright
red. That’s the way it went for the next few months. Now this must have been a religious school of some kind because when Easter rolled around the teacher gave
the children a special assignment. She talked to them about the resurrection
and then gave each of the children a large plastic egg that they could open. “I
want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something in it that shows new life,” she said. When she asked them if they understood all the children said yes except for Jeremy. He just sat there with a strange look on his face. The next
day each of the children came forward with their egg. In the eggs were things
like flowers and artificial butterflies. When she opened Jeremy’s egg though,
she discovered that it was empty. Naturally she assumed he hadn’t understood
the assignment. So, she quietly put the egg aside and went on to the next one.
“Miss Miller,” Jeremy said. “Aren’t you going
to talk about my egg?” “But Jeremy” she replied. “Your egg is empty.” “Yes,” he said,
“but Jesus’ tomb was empty, too.” Suddenly all the giggling
in the room stopped and the teacher asked him if he knew why the tomb was empty. “Oh
yes,” Jeremy said. He explained how Jesus died because he loved us and
then God raised him up. Later when the children went out to play for recess the
teacher sat down and cried. Three months later, when Jeremy died those who went
to the funeral home to pay their respects couldn’t quite figure out why there were 19 plastic eggs on the casket; all
of them empty.
Jealousy really does lead to a lousy life. On the other
hand when you’re content with yourself and who you are in life jealousy melts away and the door is opened to a whole
lot of loving. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
March 20, 2005
– Palm Sunday
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